


Like an Ocean (Being Warmed by the Sun)

by Babbler1202



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Werewolves, Bad Decisions, Kink Discovery, Lydia Martin & Jackson Whittemore Friendship, Lydia Martin/Jackson Whittemore Break Up, M/M, Minor Lydia Martin/Jackson Whittemore, Opposites Attract, Pining, Self-Discovery, Small Penis, Stiles Stilinski has a Small Dick, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-29
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-10-18 14:59:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17583026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Babbler1202/pseuds/Babbler1202
Summary: The first time Jackson noticed was a fluke but it was still surprising that he'd never noticed before.A story of how Jackson came to realize that not only was he attracted to guys, he was attracted to a certain guy. And that guy was Stiles Stilinski. What the hell?





	1. Something Different

**Author's Note:**

> Hi. I'm notorious for not finishing stuff but I'm on a roll so I hope that doesn't happen this time. Anyway, you have been warned. Here's a chapter of trash. Enjoy!

The first time Jackson noticed was a fluke but it was still surprising that he never noticed before. 

It was a Tuesday afternoon, following a pretty intense lacrosse practice led by Coach Finstock. Jackson was stripping off, getting ready to hit the showers. He was moving slower than usual today, a night of cramming for a history exam combined with too many suicide drills having sapped his energy completely. His mind felt blank and he wasn’t really thinking about what he was doing or paying any attention to where his eyes were resting. Normally, Jackson was very careful about where he let his gaze wander in the locker room. Wouldn’t want anyone getting the wrong idea. 

He was just pulling his sweaty practice jersey off when he heard a peel of laughter issuing from the corner of the room. When the shirt was over his head, he tossed it into his gym bag on the floor without looking to see if it landed and wearily watched Stilinski and McCall laughing together at the other end of the locker room. His attention was caught by Stiles, who was laughing with his head thrown back, standing about an arms length away from McCall and the two losers were giggling and talking shit and clearly paying absolutely no attention to Jackson or anyone else in the room around them. Stiles pulled the rest of his clothes off as he continued to talk to McCall and the chatter in the room kind of faded into the back of Jackson’s mind as he unconsciously let his gaze drift down Stiles' long form. 

Stiles was thin but strong and firm. You might even say lithe. Almost like a dancer. He was also pale, Jackson realized, but still flushed from running around in the cool fall temperature for an hour. Jackson could see a pink blush staining his cheeks, flushing his firm chest and, gaze dipping lower, pinking his ass as well. And though Jackson had never had a second thought about Stiles’ ass before now, he couldn’t help noticing it was tight and full and perky. Pretty, like a girls butt. Jackson found his gaze stuck in that vicinity when Stiles suddenly turned around to make his way towards the showers. 

Jackson halted completely in his efforts to strip the rest of his practice gear off as he caught sight of something he’d never noticed before. Stiles’ dick was hanging soft and small between his legs, swaying a little as he walked. And it was… tiny. Jarringly small. Honestly, Jackson had never seen a dick so small on a grown man before. It was pink too, in comparison to his pale thighs, about the length of a pinkie finger and snug up against trimmed curls and a small set of tight balls. Jackson was mesmerized. Mind still a total blank as he watched Stiles cross the room and brush past him to get to the shower area.

After Stiles was out of Jackson’s line of sight he found himself snapping out of what had almost felt like a trance only to realize he was chubbing up in his loose practice shorts. What the hell? In a panic, Jackson collapsed onto the bench behind him and grabbed his phone to hold over his lap as if he was reading a really engrossing text, mind suddenly running at full speed. 

What the fuck was that!? Jackson wondered again as if his brain was on loop. He no longer felt dazed and blank. He felt focused and electrified, heart racing a million miles a minute. Why in the fresh hell was he getting hard in the middle of the locker room, looking at Stiles Stilinski of all people? And not just Stiles body. His dick. His absolutely miniature dick? What was going ON with him today? He’d been naked in a room with Stiles after practice two days of every week for a year and a half of high-school and had NEVER reacted like this before. 

Jackson was pulled out of his panic spiral when Danny walked up beside him, fully dressed and still dripping from his hurried shower. Danny, unaware of Jackson’s inner turmoil, started talking to Jackson about the party at Lydia’s coming up on Friday and Jackson firmly forced himself to pay attention and not act like a crazy person.

“So, do you want to ride together?” Danny finished while looking down at Jackson sitting on the bench. Jackson tried to remember what he’d been saying leading up to that. Finding only a blank, Jackson nodded slowly before getting hold of himself.

“Yeah man” He followed after a pause. “Sounds great. Did you want me to pick you up or did you want to drive?” Jackson stood so the conversation wouldn’t feel weird and unbalanced, the problem in his shorts having subsided during his panicked moments of thought. 

Danny laughed “Nah man, I definitely owe you one after you got me home safe last time.” referring to a party at Ethan’s place about three weeks ago. “I think it’s your turn to get crunk and I’ll do the DD thing” Danny smiled his dimpled grin and shoved Jackson’s shoulder companionably. Jackson almost stumbled, feeling a bit weak kneed at the moment, but caught himself and shoved back.

“Cool man. I’ll accept that offer. You can get MY drunk ass home this time. My parents are probably going to be in San Francisco this weekend so I figure I can come home pretty wasted with no one there to notice.” Jackson grinned and Danny laughed in response then started to turn away.

“Cool man. Catch you in chem tomorrow then.” He threw over his shoulder before leaving Jackson alone in the locker room, all the other guys having cleared out except those still showering. Jackson stood still for a moment and decided he’d better forgo the shower until he got home. Throwing his clean t-shirt on over his sweaty shoulders was uncomfortable, but hanging around until Stiles inevitably walked, naked, back out of the showers might actually be more uncomfortable. So, to avoid that scenario, Jackson hurriedly swung his bag onto his shoulder, slid his feet into his shower sandals and hightailed it out of there before he did something he might regret.

_________________________________

At home, in the sanctuary of his room about an hour later. Jackson allowed himself to revisit his train of thought from before Danny interrupted him. And in revisiting it, realized he might be having a bit of a crisis. 

It wasn’t like Jackson had never considered his sexuality before, it was just that he’d always considered it in the framework of the fact that he liked girls, so he’d thought there was nothing else TO consider. He was definitely not homophobic. After all, Danny was his BEST FRIEND, for God’s sake. But he didn’t know what to think about HIMSELF not being completely straight. Maybe? This was...confusing. Jackson decided to sit down at his desk and write out a list of questions and try to get this figured out.

1\. Had he ever found any other guys attractive? 

He guessed the answer to that was yes, but usually abstractly so. He found himself admiring other dude’s physiques but more in a “he is hot but I’m hotter”, kind of way. Not in a “he makes me hard” kind of way. 

Jackson paused at that before shaking himself and moving on.

2\. What WAS it about Stiles that he found attractive? Was it just a weird day? Or was it Stiles himself? Why hadn’t he been attracted to Stiles before now?

Ugh. That was a lot of questions. As for what it was he found attractive about Stiles, he wasn’t sure. Was it his skin? Jackson had noticed how pale it was. And how it looked, flushed from activity and the cold, speckled with beauty marks that he kind of wanted to put his mouth on. So yes, Jackson did think that his skin was attractive. 

His body? Jackson thought back to his long muscles. How his body was slim and tight. How his waist was small and flared a bit at the hips. How his stomach was soft but flat and his pecs were small but defined. And his ass. Damn that ass was HOT. How had he not thought about it before. He kind of wanted to touch. To squeeze it, to see if was as firm and full in his hands as it had looked from across the room. Yeah. Jackson was attracted to his body. 

And Jackson had been avoiding it, but now he allowed himself to think about the real issue. Stiles’ dick. Fuck. It had almost been...cute. So small and appealing. Flushed and pink. His balls not too huge in comparison. It had been... nearly perfect. Jackson wondered if it got bigger when Stiles was hard. He found himself imagining it. Shiny at the head with precome. Even pinker with the flush of blood flow. Standing at attention but hardly any bigger. Adorable.

Lost in thought Jackson pressed his palm flat against the underside of his cock, in his shorts, to relieve some of the pressure and then he startled. He looked down at his rock hard dick, tenting the front of his shorts. Shit, he was so fucking hard. Thinking about Stilinski’s little cock. Fuck.

Yeah. Ok yes. That answered that. He thought Stiles Stilinski’s cock was hot. It was definitely his cock he was attracted to. Jackson apparently liked cock. And not just any cock. Little cock. He was amazed at himself. How had he gotten halfway through his 17th year of life and not realized he had a major kink for little dick. 

The only way it was a weird day causing this was that Jackson had been tired enough not to be on guard. Weird only in how he had allowed himself to look where his eyes were drawn. He wondered if he been subconsciously avoiding this big, gay revelation by studiously turning his gaze away in the locker room up until now. Had he somehow known he liked boys? Liked cock? Fuck. He wasn’t sure. And why was it Stiles that had him looking in the first place?

When Stiles had laughed, Jackson’s eyes had been pulled to him without a second thought. Watching the long column of his throat as he laughed with McCall. It had felt like the only place he wanted to look. It had felt natural to look that way.

And it was then that Jackson realized he actually looked at Stiles a lot. Always moving, always talking, goofy, dorky Stiles had actually captured a lot of Jackson’s attention over the years. Jackson had always felt annoyed by Stiles. By how distracting he was. By how much he couldn’t just chill and stop bothering Jackson. But damn. What if Jackson had actually just been ATTRACTED to him this WHOLE TIME? Jackson considered how he would always mess with Stiles. Call him out. Push into his space and bump into him. Shoving him against walls and lockers. Shit. Had he been pulling his pigtails this whole time? Like a kid with a school yard crush? He suddenly felt like such an asshole.

Feeling uncomfortable with his own introspection, Jackson pushed up from his desk and stripped quickly, deciding that had been enough time spent worrying about this. It shouldn’t matter. Stiles was honestly a nobody and Jackson was rich, hot, smart, and important. It didn’t matter if he was maybe gay..or bi or whatever. He was dating Lydia and he was captain of the lacrosse team and he was in the top ten GPA percentiles in the school. He drove a freaking Porsche and he shouldn’t be spending his time thinking about Stiles freaking Stilinski. Who didn’t deserve the time of DAY from Jackson Whittemore. 

Jackson gave himself this rather pompous pep talk while turning on the shower and waiting for the water to heat up. He stepped under the spray and felt like he could just wash off the dried sweat from today AND wash off this sudden interest in Stiles. Just clean it all away and send it down the drain. As he began shampooing his hair, he realized he should have written down one more question.

3\. What was he going to DO about all this? Talk to Danny? No. Jackson wasn’t ready to talk about it with Danny. He’d be all...excited and want to help. Jackson didn't feel like acknowledging it that much yet. Talk to Lydia? Shit no. She would break up with him. He’d be too much of a liability at that point. Lydia liked Jackson. Maybe she even loved him, in a way. But she was definitely in this relationship for the gains it could bring her and this would make Jackson a social risk. Plus, it might feel like a blow to her ego which was something Lydia wouldn’t put up with. So no, he wouldn’t talk to Lydia. 

Talk to Stiles? HA HA noooooo. Hell no.

So he guessed the answer was nothing. He was going to do nothing about this. Now that he understood himself and his attraction he was sure it would stop bothering him. He was going to ignore this and it was going to go away. He didn’t have time and he didn’t need the social pressure. Jackson Whittemore was going to go about his life as normal and keep being the best at almost everything.

That decided. Jackson felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Good. He finished rinsing off, turned off the water, and stepped out of the shower. After drying off, he lotioned his skin, made sure his eyebrows were perfectly shaped and his hair was perfectly moisturized. He looked into his own blue eyes and saw determination staring back. He nodded once at himself in the mirror and almost felt stupid but didn’t let that sour his mood. He stepped out of the bathroom and put his wet towel in the hamper before slipping into a pair of grey sweatpants that cost more than most people’s whole PJ wardrobe. Keeping a tidy space and a tidy body meant he had a tidy life and he was keeping it that way. He felt satisfied with his day. He finished his trig homework in thirty minutes and was in bed by 10:00 on the dot. He drifted off to sleep without a care in the world. He had this all under control.

________________________________________________________

 

He did not have this under control.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooooo. I wrote that today. I hope that it wet your whistle. Anyway, I'm already halfway through writing chapter 2 as a means of procrastinating on a work project that's due in days. Maybe I'll have more time to write when that's done. Or maybe I won't finish my work and I'll get fired...and still have more time to write. We'll never know!


	2. Something Funny

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jackson was confident in his ability to ignore Stiles completely all the way up until his first class that next morning. Whoops, that didn't last long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello. I sure didn't expect to be back here so soon but I guess I underestimated my ability to ruin my own life through procrastination. Here is a much less risqué chapter. Don't worry. There will eventually be smut. Enjoy

Jackson’s day had barely started and he knew he had a problem. He’d woken up Wednesday morning and gotten ready for school in a great mood, still feeling confident that he had this all figured out and it was not going to be a problem. However, by first period he’d started having unanticipated issues that were putting a crimp in his plan. The cause being one Stiles Stilinski and his very distracting hands. 

Jackson had been sitting two seats back and one seat over from Stiles in English class for the whole semester. None of Jackson’s or Stiles’ friends shared the class with them and Jackson had, up until now, had no problem ignoring Stiles for the entire year. This morning though, he was having trouble paying attention as Ms. Blake went over the assignment for group work on their Of Mice and Men presentation. He knew he needed to be listening. After all this class was an AP class that was definitely going to help get him into college next fall, and getting into a good college was all his parents talked about any more. But Stilinski was just so damn distracting. Stiles was carefully listening as Ms. Blake went over the lesson but he kept running his fingers along the seam of his lips. His long, slender fingers. They brushed across his lips once more and Jackson found himself shifting in his seat, dick threatening to get hard right in the middle of class. When Stiles leaned over to write something in his notes he held the pencil firmly and Jackson couldn’t help imagining something else he could wrap his fingers around. As Jackson watched, Stiles’ lips parted and his pink tongue poked out to run along his bottom lip, leaving is glistening wet and so soft looking. Jackson’s breath caught. Shit.

Jackson startled, looking up, and realized the whole class had gone silent. Double shit. Ms. Blake was looking at him expectantly and Jackson knew she must have asked him a question.

“Umm. Sorry. Excuse me?” He asked stumblingly. So unlike himself. He glanced over at Stiles again out of the corner of his eye and noticed the boy had also looked up. Eyes drawn to a hesitant Jackson, a furrow between his brow.

Jackson kept his head turned towards the teacher and waited. 

“Mr. Whittemore. If you would, kindly pay attention please. I was just asking if you could provide some of the main themes you noticed in reading the novel.” Ms. Blake’s eyes seemed to sparkle with mirth, as if she could see inside Jackson’s head, knew what he was struggling with and found it all too amusing.

With a huff Jackson responded, her attitude sparking Jackson’s usual bravado back into place. “What I read makes me think there are themes of loneliness, friendship and beauty.” He listed, glancing back Stiles’ way at the mention of the word beauty. He looked back at Ms. Blake and finished up “Along with the folly of false hope and the fate of those who are weak.”

She smiled at him knowingly and nodded her head. Moving away to ask another student about symbolism in the book, and Jackson heaved a sigh of relief, feeling like he’d just scraped through a trap on that one. 

However, when he glanced back over at Stiles, he found the boy’s golden brown eyes still fixed on Jackson’s face, a furrow of consternation still between his brows, as if wondering something. And Jackson realized he’d accidentally revealed that, not only had he read and paid attention to the book, but he'd understood it. Shit. Normally Jackson was quick to act as if he wasn’t interested in the books they read in class and that he didn’t understand them. He always joked and played it off when asked something aloud in class, saving his true thoughts for the essays and tests in order to keep an A in the class. It was as if Ms. Blake had used his distraction with Stiles to provoke him into revealing he was more of a bookworm than he wanted everyone to know. It wasn’t good for his image. And it looked like Stiles had noticed. 

Jackson felt a blush warm his cheeks and the bridge of his nose as he lowered his gaze quickly to the notebook open on the desk in front of him. Damn he felt kind of exposed. Hopefully no one but Stiles had noticed anything different about Jackson eloquently answering a question in English class. Jackson resolved to buckle down on ignoring Stilinski. 

As soon he finished the thought, Ms. Blake was back at the front of the classroom, stating that she would now be splitting them into partnered groups to work on the assignment and that no, they would not be able to trade partners under any circumstances. She went around the room assigning pairs until she reached Jackson and announced “Mr. Whittemore, you’ll be working with Mr. Stilinski” And then just kept on announcing pairs as if she hadn’t just rocked Jackson’s world. 

Jackson felt frozen as he watched people in the class stand and start to shuffle around in order to pair up and discuss their plan of action. Jackson watched with what felt like wide eyes as Stiles got up and strolled over. Long limbs lose and always moving. He flopped into the now empty seat in front of Jackson, turning the desk halfway to face backwards and steepled his long fingers in front of his mouth. Jackson stared at those fingers for a long pause and then looked up to find Stiles still studying him closely.

He shook himself loose and tried to regulate his voice as he clipped out an acknowledgment. “Stilinski.” He sounded cold to his own ears and almost winced.

“Whittemore.” Stiles mocked him. Jackson knew it was mocking since Stiles always called him by his first name. The mocking got under Jackson’s skin immediately, as Stiles always seemed to do and he smirked at the freckled boy. 

“Well since we’re stuck together until this is done, I guess we’d better figure out what we're doing. I don’t want to spend more time on it than I have to.”He stated, implying he’d rather not spend more time with STILES than he had to. 

Stiles huffed and opened his notebook to a blank page. Looking up at Jackson again he asked “So, what theme do you want to do our presentation on? And when can you meet? We’ve really only got 4 weeks to work on this. We both have lacrosse practice twice a week AND games every other Saturday. I know I’ve got other shit going on and of course you do too what with Lydia and Danny and the frequent parties. When are you free to meet up?” 

Jackson listened as Stiles rambled, explaining what Jackson already knew, but for some reason, Stiles’ extra chatter didn’t grate on his nerves like is usually did. He found himself wanting to listen and watch as his full mouth formed the words. It was kind of mesmerizing. While he talked, he gestured animatedly and ran his long, pale fingers through his hair, drawing Jackson’s attention to it. And huh? When had Stilinski grown his hair out? It was no longer a short buzz cut, following the contours of his skull. No, now it was longer. There wasn’t much product in it and it looked soft and messy on top like he’d just rolled out of bed. Or he’d been running his fingers through it all morning. Or like someone else had been. 

Before Jackson could acknowledge the twinge of jealousy that thought seemed to foster, Stiles was snapping his hypnotizing fingers twice, right in front of Jackson’s face.

“Hello? Earth to Douchebag. Dude are you on something? You’re being weird today. When do you want to meet up?”

Jackson felt his eyebrows pull together in annoyance. Rude. “I’m not ‘on something’” he scowled at Stiles, wishing Ms. Blake hadn’t put a ban on switching partners. “I’m just waiting to see if you’re finished running your mouth.” Stiles rolled his eyes and Jackson continued. “I’m free every Monday and Wednesday after school and every Saturday that we don’t have a game. I guess I could be free Sundays too.” He finished but then thought to add, after a pause “but maybe not after parties.”

“Awesome that matches up for me.” Stiles quickly started scratching out a schedule for the group project with his usual frenetic movement and continued to ramble, for no reason that Jackson could discern other than to fill the air with noise. “I totally get that ‘not after parties’ thing. No one wants to do homework with a hangover. I’ll probably be free most Sundays too but we’ll play those by ear.”

Jackson scoffed sarcastically “ Suuure. I’m sure you're real familiar with hangovers, dweeb. Since you party SO much.”

Stiles looked up to glare at him. “Dweeb? Really? That’s weak Jackson. I think you need some new material.” When Jackson didn’t do more than glare back, Stiles moved on “Anyway, I think we should meet up every free day for at least an hour or two until we knock this out. I’m not sure how long it will take because I’m not sure of your progress with the book and knowledge of the themes-” 

“I’m finished with the damn book and I got the themes just fine, Stilinski” Taking exception to the implication that Stiles was smarter or a better student, even though that’s just what he liked to let people think, Jackson cut Stiles off mid ramble, provoking another glare directed his way.

Stiles waited a minute to see if Jackson had anything else to say, big brown eyes practically cutting into him, and then continued. “As I was saying, I’m not sure how long it will take so we should probably start this afternoon. We can meet at my house if you want. Once we get it finished, we can see less of each other and I’m sure were both on board with getting to that point as quickly as possible.”

Jackson suddenly felt a little panicked again in realizing he’d actually have to spend a lot more time with Stiles. Like, outside of school and everything. He tried to come up with an excuse for tonight but after being bewitched by Stiles fingers, lips, eyes and hair for the past 45 minutes he felt like he wasn’t firing on all cylinders. 

He blurted out “I’m not hanging out in your… peasant shanty.” knowing he was really reaching. And he felt like an asshole the minute it left his mouth. He froze, waiting to see how Stiles would react.

Stiles stared blankly at Jackson for 3 full beats before bursting into laughter, throwing his head back and exposing the pale stretch of his throat. He laughed loudly and full bodied for a good minute before wiping at the corners of his sparkling eyes, where tears of mirth had started to form.

“Mr Stilinski,” Ms. Blake admonished from across the room where she had been helping another group. “I know this was an interesting novel but if you could, please keep your enthusiasm contained so the rest of the class can also get some work done.” 

Stiles subsided into chuckles and waved a hand in Ms. Blake’s direction, “Yes ma’am.” he said after quieting himself and then turned to look back in Jackson’s direction. 

Jackson who was sitting there, stunned. His body wasn’t sure if it wanted to feel completely embarrassed for the idiotic insult or if it wanted to feel completely turned on at the sight of Stiles joyful and quite frankly, sexy laughter. He could feel that his cheeks were on fire, from either or both of the conflicting feelings. God, Stiles was...fucking beautiful when he laughed.

“You are cordially invited to go fuck yourself, Jackson.” Stiles finally settled down enough to throw out. And when Jackson, still suffering an, unknown to Stiles, internal crisis, didn’t respond, he continued, still grinning as if Jackson had purposely made him laugh, instead of having miserably failed at being a pompous ass. “Fine. Have it your way. We’ll meet at your place today. BUT that just means you’ll have to provide the snacks. I, personally, am a big fan of curly fries” He followed up with a wink, as if to say ‘ha, that showed you!’.

But then Stiles continued, still oblivious to Jackson's melting brain. “But we’re not meeting at your house every time, asshole. That’s grossly unfair, dude. We’ll just have to alternate and you can bring hand sanitizer or something to avoid offending your delicate sensibilities at my ..shanty.” Stiles set himself off giggling again.

Jackson, still at a loss for words, just nodded slowly. The bell to signal the end of class chose that moment to ring and Stiles knocked once on Jackson’s desk as he stood and said, “See you tonight dude.” Before turning away to gather his things and head to his next class. He didn’t turn back once. 

Jackson felt glued to his chair. It took him longer than almost anyone else to get up and head to his next class. On his way out the door, Ms. Blake tipped her head at him, as if to say ‘you’re welcome’. He walked through the hallway towards chemistry in a daze.

Holy shit. Jackson did NOT have this under control. He was so fucked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah. I'm digging this story. I actually would not have considered myself a Stackson fan until about a week ago. Where was I on this? The dynamic between these two is delicious.
> 
> So, will there be more of this soon? Doubtful. I really am pushing it on this work project I'm ignoring. I don't know HOW I can even finish it on time at this point. So don't expect anything from me for a few days at least. Or maybe weeks? *shrugs* Life is a mystery.


	3. Something Unusual

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The cafeteria at school probably wasn’t the best place to have an existential crisis, but try telling that to Jackson’s brain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, I am still writing this? Even though I should be working? and it's 2 am? Don't ever let anyone tell you that I make good choices.

The cafeteria at school probably wasn’t the best place to have an existential crisis, but try telling that to Jackson’s brain.

He sat in front of a tray of untouched food and stared at the slowly congealing mac-and-cheese without really seeing it. Danny sat to his left, taking up the seat at the end of the table, subtly glancing over at him every few minutes, as if to check that Jackson hadn’t fully lost it yet. He’d been surreptitiously observing him ever since Chemistry class. And Jackson couldn’t blame him. He knew he had to be acting weird. He just couldn’t stop freaking out long enough to STOP acting weird. 

In class he’d been totally zoned out. Harris had even threatened him with detention. Of course the slimy worm didn’t follow through on that threat. He’d never screw with Jackson. He and Jackson’s parents were both members of the same country club. His parents always offered all of Jackson’s teachers a membership while he was their student. Most were too decent to take them up on it. But Mr. Harris was anything but decent. Thus, his parents had leverage over Harris that other student’s didn’t have. He could probably get away with murder in that man’s class. But still, he had threatened! And that was unusual. 

After Chemistry, he and Danny shared Spanish class and Jackson had been spaced in there too. But he was fluent in Spanish (a fact he kept secret from the Spanish teacher, señiora Morrell and everyone else for a variety of reasons) so, paying attention in there was kind of optional anyway. He and Danny had then walked to lunch together, as usual. Danny had tried to make conversation with Jackson at first. He tried talking about Mr. Harris’ homework assignment. Then, when that didn’t seem to snap Jackson out of his funk, he tried talking about some gossip surrounding a couple with whom they were all friends. But, after Jackson didn’t even respond to questions about Lacrosse strategy against the school they were playing next weekend, he had apparently given up on drawing Jackson out and was just sticking with watching him with a concerned look on his face.

Lydia sat to his right and he could tell she was getting fed up with him. He’d pretty much been ignoring her. He hadn’t texted her back last night or at all today. He’d barely brushed their lips together when greeting her in front of their usual lunch table. He wasn’t listening to her now, as she went over her plans for the party, where she was getting the booze and what kind of decorations she was imagining. 

It was unusual for Jackson to not at least respond to her while she talked. Half the time he was throwing out suggestions and helping her decide on playlists. Jackson actually liked to pick the music. So yeah, Lydia could tell she was being ignored. And Lydia was not the kind of girl who would put up with being ignored. Not for long. 

He was being a dick to everyone, but he really couldn’t even dredge up a fuck to give about it. 

He was just...flabbergasted with himself. He’d been so SURE last night that he could just brush this new thing for Stiles under the rug and forget about it. It didn’t make sense. How could something so new and so far from being an important part of Jackson’s life be consuming his thoughts like this? Why was Stiles so damn hot all of a sudden? When did he grow his hair out like that? And why on Earth did Jackson suddenly care about Stilinski’s hair? It was an absolute mystery. A frustration. And Jackson was starting to discover that his plan of action to deal with this frustration, ignore it and it will go away, was not an effective plan of action. 

He probably would have kept silently watching his food not get eaten for the rest of the lunch hour, Lydia’s voice becoming slowly more and more annoyed, Danny’s gaze becoming more and more concerned, if a familiar voice hadn’t called out his name from a table away, snapping Jackson out of it in an instant. 

Jackson suddenly had no trouble focusing as he looked up to find Stiles energetically stumbling his way over to Jackson’s table. He watched, raptly, as Stiles walked purposefully towards him. The conversations taking place around Jackson slowly died off as his friends noticed Stiles’ approach. Seeing that he was now being watched closely by his peers made Jackson nervous.

“What do you want now, Stilinski?” He asked gruffly, his voice registering lower than usual after having not spoken for hours. 

Stiles rolled his eyes as he came to a stop at the end of their table. Standing next to Danny he started to take his phone out of his pocket and began talking quickly. Faster than normal, if Jackson was willing to admit that he knew how fast Stilinski normally talked….which he really wasn’t. It seemed as if he, too, was nervous. Or just wanted to hurry up and get out of there. Honestly, Jackson didn’t blame him. These people were like birds of prey with something bloody and wounded caught in their sights. 

“Hey man, sorry but I totally forgot earlier that we didn’t have each other’s numbers.” he glanced around at all the eyes watching him and continued without taking a breath. “And then I realized we didn’t actually decide on a time for me to come over today, though, really, I figured you’d be expecting me right after school, but I didn’t want to assume cause you might need to get snacks or clean up around-”

“Damnit Stiles.” Jackson cut Stiles’ ramble short before he really embarrassed himself by running out of oxygen or something. “Just give me your phone.” He thrust his hand out, palm flat and demanding.

Stiles took a deep breath and blushed for a moment before handing his phone over sheepishly. “So yeah, figured I’d better, uhh…. figure that out?” Stiles trailed off almost like he was asking himself a question. 

Jackson actually had to pull his eyes away from the frankly adorable blush staining Stiles’ cheeks. It reminded him of Stiles’ flushed face from the locker room yesterday. And no good could come of remembering how pink Stiles was in the locker room yesterday. Jesus.

Stiles had a fucking android phone, of course, so plebeian, so it took Jackson, who was used to the sameness of all iphones, a second to locate the Contacts page. When he did, he quickly entered his number and shot off a one word text to himself so he would have Stiles’ number as well. When he looked up he saw that Stiles was clearly uncomfortable, shifting from one foot to the other and gripping the straps of his backpack against his shoulders tightly. He kind of felt bad for him. If it had been Jackson, he’d have just shown up at Stilinski’s house when he felt like it, rather than endure these probing stares. But the kid had balls, that was for sure. Oh great. Now Jackson had to steer his thought away from Stiles’ freaking balls. Lord help him.

Handing the phone back Jackson spoke up once more. “It’s whatever. You can come over right after school. The maid cleans during the day and we already have snacks.” He found himself rambling a bit too and took a steadying breath before continuing “Now fuck off Stilinski.” He tried to sound serious but he could feel his lips quirking at the corners, unintentionally taking the sting out of the words.

Stiles seemed to notice the barely there smile too. His eyes sparkling a bit, though he kept his face neutral. “Nice talking to you too, asshole.” He turned quickly and flailed a bit as he almost stumbled trying to look back over his shoulder while he walked in the opposite direction. “See ya this afternoon.” He finished with a little salute that was so fucking dorky but Jackson’s traitorous brain was freaking charmed AGAIN and he continued to watch until Stiles disappeared out of the cafeteria doors. 

After Stiles’ was out of sight Jackson looked back around at the table and the faces surrounding him. They were all still awkwardly silent. Most seemed a bit confused but also seemed to know better than to question their reigning social king. Ethan, however, spat out “what a loser.” meanly, into the silence and the whole table seemed to relax as they chuckled and went back to their probably meaningless conversations, ignoring Jackson once again. Jackson tried to laugh as well, to keep up appearances, but his heart wasn’t in it. Because really, who was really the loser here? Was it Stilinski? Or the guy who couldn’t stop thinking about him naked?

“Jackson!” Lydia snapped out, possibly having been trying to get Jackson’s attention for a while. “What is UP with you today? You are acting super strange and now Stiles and you are hanging out after school? That’s new. Care to explain?”

“It’s nothing, Lydia. We have a group project in English, is all. Assigned partners. No way around it. It’s not like I WANT to spend time with Stilinski and he sure as hell doesn’t want to spend time with me.” He spat out bitterly. 

Feeling irritated after a full morning of stressing over this, Jackson decided he’d had enough sitting around being picked at and watched. He continued speaking snappishly, while he stood and shouldered his messenger bag. “I have some homework I forgot to grab from my locker for History. I’ll meet you in there.” He finished. And then followed up quickly and less harshly with “See ya Danny” before turning on his heel and walking off. He didn’t look back to see what was probably a seriously pissed off Lydia Martin face. He didn’t even want to know. That was future Jackson’s problem and present Jackson just needed to get out of there for a minute. 

This was all getting to be a bit too much.

______________________________________________

 

After stepping outside for the last few minutes of lunch, Jackson’s head felt a bit clearer. He was able to walk into History class just as the bell sounded without combusting and sat in his usual desk beside Lydia without acknowledging her calculating glare. Just as he had expected, he was in for it. 

But whatever Lydia had planned would have to wait. There really was a history assignment to turn in and then a lesson to follow. Jackson actually managed to pay attention this time. Perhaps because he didn’t feel like getting caught staring into space by Lydia. Perhaps he was finally just fatigued of thinking of pretty lips and a tight ass. God, he hoped so. 

Whatever the reason, History actually flew by and Jackson took great notes. Lydia was too studious to ignore Mr. Yukimura in favor of burning a hole in Jackson’s head with her eyes, so Jackson felt like he had a slight reprieve. When class was wrapping up, Jackson packed up his things and prepared to dash out of there and head over to his next class, wanting to avoid a confrontation with Lydia at all cost. Of course he wasn’t so lucky.

The teacher asked him to wait a few minutes so he could get a bit of clarity on the paper he’d turned in and Lydia was waiting for him outside of the classroom when he walked out. He felt his stomach tighten up. Fuck he really didn’t want to do this right now.

But actually, Lydia seemed to have cooled off. She took Jackson’s elbow and hooked her arm through his. Turning him and beginning to walk with him towards their next shared class, Economics, she talked lightly of nothing much important and tossed her radiant hair prettily until they reached their seats, hers right in front of Jackson’s, and settled in. She smiled at Jackson before class started with perfectly glossed lips and remained attentive to Coach Finstocks special brand of rant/teaching all through class. Jackson finally started to relax, thinking maybe she hadn’t noticed what a douche he’d been all day. 

He remained hopeful up until the bell rang and she turned in her chair to face him as the class started to empty out. 

“Now.” She began speaking in low tones, meant for Jackson’s ears only. She looked relaxed and put together. You might have even said she was calm, if her words weren’t the complete opposite of her demeanor. “I don’t know what the hell is going on with you today and frankly, I don’t care. I will not be treated the way you’ve been treating me, Jackson Thomas Whittemore." 

Yikes, his full name. 

"When you ignored my texts, it was one thing. My feelings were a bit hurt but I can get over that. However, when you brush me off in front of everyone? When you don’t listen to a word I say and make me feel as if I’m a spec of dirt on the floor? When you rush out of the room just to get away from me with a throw away excuse that everyone can see right through? Then it is more than my feelings on the line. It is my reputation. I think you’d do well to remember who I am. I’m not some nobody to be put down and picked back up when it’s convenient for you.”

Jackson was frozen. He wanted to be mad and snap back, but he knew everything she was saying was true. She didn’t deserve how he’d been treating her, even if Jackson was distracted and feeling a bit lost. None of that was Lydia’s fault. And he DID care about her, so he should treat her as if he did.

She continued steadily, a fire in her eyes and a slight flush on her cheeks but otherwise still completely composed. To the outside world it would look as if they were just caught up in casual conversation before moving on to their next classes.

“I would be perfectly justified in going on a break. I’m certain feeling riled up enough. But quite frankly, I don’t want to deal with the fallout. Especially for what I’m assuming is just and off day.” She looked pointedly at Jackson as if to say ‘It had BETTER be just an off day.’ and then kept going as she gracefully rose and gathered her things. “SO, instead I’m going to give you a chance to make it up to me. I know you’re busy tonight with your group work and you have practice tomorrow. But, on Friday night, I want you to pull out all the stops. You had better be on point. I expect you to be on time for the party, dressed to the nines and attentive to me all night long. If you can show me a nice evening, I will choose to let this unfortunate incident pass as if it never happened.” She made to walk out of the room and Jackson followed along, moving up to walk beside her with his head held high, like the king and queen they were supposed to be.

“However, if you pull this shit on me again, Jackson?” And now her tone did turn ferocious “I will end this relationship faster than you can say “Fields Medal” and I will look elsewhere for what I need in a relationship. Do you follow?” She asked in a tone that didn’t leave room for anything but ‘yes’ in response.

So “Yes” is what he said. And he didn’t know what else to add. But it seemed like that was enough for Lydia, for now. She turned then to face him and he realized he’d been walked right up to the door of his next class. They didn’t share it, so it was only Lydia’s guidance that had gotten him there at all. She seemed to relax some now, the rules all laid out, her peace having been said. She patted him on the chest and leaned up to kiss him chastely before saying quietly “I know I said earlier that I don’t care what’s bothering you, but that wasn’t strictly true. This isn’t LIKE you Jackson. And I’m not the only one who thought you were acting unusual. Danny noticed it too. If there’s something wrong, you know you can talk to me, right?” 

And yeah, Lydia was good to him. They were friends first and the core of their relationship remained friendship, He almost spilled his guts right then, looking into her concerned green eyes. He really wanted to talk to someone about it, all of a sudden.

But the MIDDLE of the hall, RIGHT before 7th period was not the time or place to tell his GIRLFRIEND that he was having sexual thoughts about someone else. Nope. And he knew he’d chicken out later. So, he just told her not to worry, kissed her on her forehead and squeezed her hand before she smiled up at him again and turned with a flourish to flounce off to her own classroom, her bright hair bouncing and the scent of her soft perfume hanging in the air after she had passed.

Jackson turned then to enter the classroom and caught sight of Stiles broad, plaid covered, shoulders in the crowd as he hurried away in the other direction. And just like that, he was thinking about Stiles again. Damn it. He just couldn’t catch a break here, he thought to himself, as he slumped into his next class. He resisted the urge to put his head down on his desk and just hoped the rest of the day wouldn’t drag on too long. 

______________________________________

Jackson’s last class of the day was Trigonometry. Another AP class that Jackson really needed to do well in for the purposes of getting into a good college. However, unlike English or History, Economics or Chemistry, Trig came really easily to Jackson. It was like it just made sense. 

His teacher, Mr. Adisa, was from Ghana originally, and still retained a heavy accent from his first language. He was an intense teacher but Jackson secretly thought he was hilarious. Mr. Adisa was deep brown with close cropped hair, a penchant for wearing a lot of blue, and an infectious grin that he would show off frequently during class. He LOVED Trig and was always joking about how their trig books should be their best friends. He went on and on about how they should hug their trig book at night and greet it in the morning, take it on trips abroad and to the bathroom with them. Ridiculousness. 

So yeah, Jackson found that to be pretty funny. A fact he kept to himself. Only nerds liked Math and thought their Math teachers were fun to be around. But despite that, the combination of liking the teacher and understanding the subject, along with the fact that he didn’t actually share this class with anyone who mattered, had Jackson relaxing for once today. Mr Adisa had several formulas and problems up on the board and they were to work on them quietly until class was over and then they would discuss them in class tomorrow. Mr. Adisa liked for them to try and figure stuff out on their own before explaining it. He said that meant they were paying more attention to the things that mattered when he finally did explain it. 

Whatever the reasoning, Jackson liked the method. Partially because, he could ALWAYS figure the problem sets out on his own, as long as the formulas were displayed. Partially because, since he DID figure everything out quickly, he was left with a lot of free time before the end of class. And, as long as they were done working, Mr. Adisa let them do whatever they wanted, so long as it didn’t interfere with the other students. This was actually when Jackson got a lot of reading and homework done. 

But not today. Today Jackson knocked out the problem sets and put his finished work aside. He pulled out a blank sheet of paper and wrote “What to do about the Little Problem™”

Jackson huffed a quiet laugh at his own joke and then seriously considered the issue.

So it turned out that ignoring the feelings weren’t making them go away. That was no longer an option. Jackson didn't like how messy and strange this day had gotten because of all that. He needed to do something about this, and do it as soon as possible.

Option 1: Have Stiles kicked out of school.

 

Yeah that wasn’t going to happen. Not only was Stiles a top student, his dad was the town sheriff. No one would be kicking Stiles out without a good reason. Not that Jackson exactly knew how to even accomplish such a thing? And he really didn’t WANT to do that. It was such an asshole move. And Jackson wasn’t THAT much of an asshole

 

Option 2: Change his schedule so he never saw Stiles.

Still no. It wouldn't eradicate every possible chance of them running into each other. Plus, he liked his schedule. He had two classes with Danny and two with Lydia. And, duh, they’d still have practice together. So, no, that wouldn’t work as a solution.

 

Option 3: Pretend he’d gone blind so he could walk around with his eyes closed, never setting his sights on Stiles again. HA.

No longer being serious, he listed several more stupid options, each one more far fetched than the last before he stopped writing them down, afraid someone might read over his shoulder and report him for threats of violence or a break with reality or something. 

“The only option:” He wrote down finally. Since this wasn’t going away on it’s own, there seemed to be only one thing to do, but it wasn’t going to be easy. Lydia and him DID have a bit of an understanding, though Jackson wasn’t really sure if it would stretch to accommodate this wild idea. However, no matter what Lydia thought, Stiles could barely stand him at this point, so it was going to take time, baby steps and serious effort on Jackson’s part.

“The only option” was to get Stiles out of his system by following through with his desires and seeing this thing through to the end. He was going to need to have sex ...with Stiles Stilinski...and he wasn’t quite sure he could pull that off. But he was sure as hell going to try. He carefully wrote out his decision.

The Only Option: Fuck Stiles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was longer than the other two so far. I hope that it wasn't long in a BORING way. There wasn't actually much interaction between Stiles and Jackson here, and that worries me. Will y'all still like reading it? Who knows. But that will NOT be the case in the next chapter. Nope No sirree. Hope y'all hang around for that.

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea where this is going or when it will be finished. Best of luck!


End file.
